Katharina Fritsch, Hahn / Cock, 2013, painted glass fiber-reinforced polyester resin on stainless steel armature, Gift of the Glenstone Foundation in honor of the resilience of the American people during the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020.23.1

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Press Release:  Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist

The retrospective exhibition Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies showcases the enduring legacy of Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) as a visionary artist and an unwavering activist. As the most comprehensive presentation devoted to Catlett in the United States, it features more than 150 works, including well-known sculpture and prints, rare paintings and drawings, and important ephemera. The exhibition is co-organized by the Brooklyn Museum and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and presented in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago.

A sprig of flowering rosemary lying against an ivory-white background and the twelve insects that surround it fills this horizontal painting. Stretching nearly the length of the composition with the cut end to our left, the rosemary has blunted, needle-like, gently curling teal-green leaves and small periwinkle-blue flowers along the ash-brown stem. Several insects perch on the sprig while others are seen as if looking from overhead, resting on the white background. The three largest insects perch along the top of the sprig, with an ivory-white butterfly with moss-green and black markings to the left, a black and golden, fuzzy bumblebee near the center, and a lemon-yellow butterfly with red antennae to our right. A tiny red insect, perhaps a ladybug without spots, sits on a leaf between the bee and yellow butterfly, and a small wasp-like insect rests on a leaf in at the lower left. Another mosquito-like insect alights on the surface nearby, next to a beetle with a honey-orange body with black, almost tiger-like stripes. A large cockroach sitting near the lower right corner has six spindly legs, a mahogany-colored abdomen, a black thorax, and tiny, black head. Spaced somewhat evenly across the top of the panel are a brick-red, winged insect to the left, a mint-green, beetle-like bug near a moth patterned with bone white and black, and a black, fly-like insect to our right. Lit from the upper left, the rosemary and insects cast shadows on the surface. The artist signed and dated the work with gray in the lower left corner: “J v. kessel . . f. Ao 1653.”

Press Release:  Art’s Influence on Natural History Explored in Historic Exhibition

Washington, DC—The National Gallery of Art announces Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World, an exhibition exploring the rich exchange between artists and naturalists at the dawn of European natural history. Thanks to an unprecedented collaboration with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), the National Gallery will display nearly 75 prints, drawings, and paintings alongside some 60 objects from NMNH, marking the first time their collections of art and specimens have been displayed together.

Chakaia Booker, "Acid Rain"

Press Release:  Monumental Sculptures by Chakaia Booker Presented at the National Gallery of Art

For over four decades, Chakaia Booker has cut, coiled, and contorted tires, transforming industrial waste into abstract sculpture. Gravitating towards found, weathered fragments that convey the histories of their use, she incorporates the visual interest found in their tones, textures, and irregularities, like stains, cracks, and fading of the rubber, into her art.

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